Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Vince]

OK, armed with my new knowledge of 75 vs 50 ohms stuff, I was at last able to confidently go through my big box of random bits and finally sort everything.

117 pieces in total, well at the beginning it was more like 125 or so, but some stuff was very crusty so I threw some bits away. It was only mundane stuff I had many duplicates of (tiny low power 75 terminations, and BNC - Banana adapters).

I ended up making 3 boxes :

75 ohms stuff (either 75 ohms impedance connectors, or 75 ohms terminations... 75 something, IOW...)

- x3 banana adapters
- x13 75R terminations, on 75R BNC.
- x12 75R terminations, on 50R BNC, including a nice beefy and accurate Tektronix one, 0.025%, P/N 011-0102-01
- x1 PCB mount socket, vertical orientation / straight.
- x6 PCB mount sockets, horizontal orientation / 90°
- x7 Panel mount sockets.

50 ohms stuff

- x6 banana adapters
- x1 75R through termination, 1 Watt, Tektronix 011-0055-01, 50R BNC.
- x3 PCB mount sockets, straight.
- x1 PCB mount socket, 90°.
- x10 Tees, one has a big plastic shrouding all over it, a bit impractical.... maybe meant to be used outdoor or something ??
- x7 90°  Male / Female adapters
- x7 Panel mount Female / Female sockets.


MQ / MiniQuick stuff

- x16 BNC Male / MQ Female adapters.
- x3 BNC Female / MQ Male adapters.
- x7 75R Terminations including a through one.
- x1 Tee.
- x1 Panel mount socket.
- x1 MQ Male / F Type (I think ! ) Female
- x10 MQ  Female / Female adapters.

So a lot of stuff ! IIRC I got it all for 20 or 40 Euros can't remember, was 4 years ago or something.

[med6753]

Wake up this morning to a temperature of -2 C and freezing rain. That's rain that falls as liquid and then immediately freezes upon hitting the ground. Turns everything including the roads into a sheet of ice. The scanner is going nuts with numerous accidents. Road crews are out sanding/salting but naturally can't be everywhere at once.

It's becoming a real clusterfuck out there.  Glad I don't have to go anywhere. It is supposed to go above freezing later today.

Edit....call just came across....even the salt trucks are getting into accidents. 

I remember driving along back roads during one of these freezing rain storms.  I felt things were getting too slippery to drive any further, and stopped the car.  At the place I stopped, the road was so slippery that the crown in the road was enough to make the car slowly slide sideways even while standing still!   

I'm confident enough in my driving ability and my ability to modify how I drive according to the road conditions that I'm prepared to go out driving in almost any weather, with the following provisos:

• It not so windy that you're likely to get picked up and flung about.
• The number of other drivers on the road is small enough that my chances of encountering someone who can't adapt to the weather are acceptably small.
• The weather is not freezing rain. If it is I either don't go out, or park up until it is safe. Horrible stuff, truly, truly, horrible.

Agree 100%. And driving in snow takes an extra acuteness acquired from years of experience. Your hands on the steering and the feel coming up from the seat into your arse can give you fair warning that you are approaching the limits of control. And some features on new vehicles can be a hinder that rather than help.

AWD or 4WD is a definite plus.
If you have an automatic disable OD.
Snow or good all season tires.
ABS is 50/50 like/dislike.
I turn OFF traction control. I experimented with it and I do NOT like how it reduces power. Sometimes you WANT wheel spin.     

Depends on the traction control. My 4Runner has multiple traction control modes that are specifically designed for off road use, and you can tune how much wheelspin it will allow depending on the surface. It's also a proper 4x4 with low range though...low slung crossovers with AWD are substantially less than optimal if you encounter real snow because you'll start pretending to be a snow plow a lot sooner....and you won't make much forward progress. I will also say there is a reason studded tires are legal in locales that get significant winter.

The traction control on the CR-V is very aggressive. Least little wheel spin and it activates. No bueno. When driving in snow it's always off. And yes, the CR-V is simply AWD with no low range. And sits lower than a typical true 4WD vehicle. Anything over a foot of snow is pushing it. As you stated the snow piles up under it and you lose traction. 

[m k]

So that's cool then, 90% of the stuff I have in that box of random bits, is indeed 50R, Radiall, I am am so happy, excellent score that was 

My general experiment can be invalid but I would do a mechanical check with a loose pin.

Based on late Thinnet stuff from '90s I just can't trust those things.
Maybe it was NE2000 clone makers who were not very picky but those tolerances were something else.
And every NIC box had a T-connector.

Not very long ago I also got some RJ45 males from ebay and they didn't fit in.
Shouldn't be the hard part of that connector.

BTW,
even that my last back pusher had several sacks of sand in the trunk it was still fun.
Nowadays even handbrake is in wrong wheels.

[jemotrain]

Are you sure about "TNC"-connector type ?
For me it looks like as miniQuick connectors. "miniQuick" or "MQ" are Radiall propriety connectors.
Eg. "R191413000" is a adapter between BNC and MQ.
TNC connectors have a screwing to fix the both sides of the connection.

[0culus]

Wake up this morning to a temperature of -2 C and freezing rain. That's rain that falls as liquid and then immediately freezes upon hitting the ground. Turns everything including the roads into a sheet of ice. The scanner is going nuts with numerous accidents. Road crews are out sanding/salting but naturally can't be everywhere at once.

It's becoming a real clusterfuck out there.  Glad I don't have to go anywhere. It is supposed to go above freezing later today.

Edit....call just came across....even the salt trucks are getting into accidents. 

I remember driving along back roads during one of these freezing rain storms.  I felt things were getting too slippery to drive any further, and stopped the car.  At the place I stopped, the road was so slippery that the crown in the road was enough to make the car slowly slide sideways even while standing still!   

I'm confident enough in my driving ability and my ability to modify how I drive according to the road conditions that I'm prepared to go out driving in almost any weather, with the following provisos:

• It not so windy that you're likely to get picked up and flung about.
• The number of other drivers on the road is small enough that my chances of encountering someone who can't adapt to the weather are acceptably small.
• The weather is not freezing rain. If it is I either don't go out, or park up until it is safe. Horrible stuff, truly, truly, horrible.

Agree 100%. And driving in snow takes an extra acuteness acquired from years of experience. Your hands on the steering and the feel coming up from the seat into your arse can give you fair warning that you are approaching the limits of control. And some features on new vehicles can be a hinder that rather than help.

AWD or 4WD is a definite plus.
If you have an automatic disable OD.
Snow or good all season tires.
ABS is 50/50 like/dislike.
I turn OFF traction control. I experimented with it and I do NOT like how it reduces power. Sometimes you WANT wheel spin.     

Depends on the traction control. My 4Runner has multiple traction control modes that are specifically designed for off road use, and you can tune how much wheelspin it will allow depending on the surface. It's also a proper 4x4 with low range though...low slung crossovers with AWD are substantially less than optimal if you encounter real snow because you'll start pretending to be a snow plow a lot sooner....and you won't make much forward progress. I will also say there is a reason studded tires are legal in locales that get significant winter.

The traction control on the CR-V is very aggressive. Least little wheel spin and it activates. No bueno. When driving in snow it's always off. And yes, the CR-V is simply AWD with no low range. And sits lower than a typical true 4WD vehicle. Anything over a foot of snow is pushing it. As you stated the snow piles up under it and you lose traction.

I recently visited a friend with a steep (and snowy) driveway. I put it in 4LO and engaged the ATRAC setting. Essentially idled right up with no problems. And that was with shitty factory all season tires. Once I have my real tires, it'll be amazing.

[tautech]

Isn't it pleasant to see TEA newbies jumping in to share their knowledge and sometimes set the record straight. 

Don't be strangers you silent readers....come on in the waters fine. 

[Neper]

• The weather is not freezing rain. If it is I either don't go out, or park up until it is safe. Horrible stuff, truly, truly, horrible.

Back in the days when tyres with spikes came on the market over here (yes, I'm that old) our neighbour had them fitted and thought it a good idea to try them out at the next weekend when there was indeed heavy freezing rain. He invited us along and we had trouble walking from the door to his car.

Once underway, everything went fine. At the first red light, the car came to a standstill just like on a perfectly dry road. Only the one behind us didn't and half a dozen more...

[tggzzz]

It is a standing joke that the letters to newspapers and other periodicals from nutters are written ALL IN CAPITALS IN GREEN INK. I can tell you from my personal experience of actually sitting, opening and reading the correspondence to periodicals that those kind of formatting quirks are pretty reliable indicators that the correspondent is going to be somewhere on the spectrum from "incoherent monomaniac" to "Erm, I think we'd better call the police". The quirk wasn't always ALL IN CAPITALS IN GREEN INK but it genuinely made up the higher proportion of crank letters than did other creative and unconventional approaches to formatting.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

I've always been guided by “Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” ― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Airman's Odyssey

Have you ever tried to find Saint-Exupéry in a bookshop or a library on the physical shelves? Booksellers and librarians sometimes shelve him under "D", sometimes under "S" and I've even found them shelved under "E". Frustrating...

What is this "bookshop" of which you speak?

Try asking an assistant whether you should expect to find a book in the "fiction" section or "literature" section. (No, they don't know the distinction either!)

P.S. If you like Saint-Exupéry you'll probably also like Russell Hoban. There is no good literary reason for this, but I've found that people who like one ofttimes also like the other.

I'll keep that in mind.

[med6753]

Compensation fell right into place on this repaired Type 1A1. Now on to the Type 1A4.

[SilverSolder]

Wake up this morning to a temperature of -2 C and freezing rain. That's rain that falls as liquid and then immediately freezes upon hitting the ground. Turns everything including the roads into a sheet of ice. The scanner is going nuts with numerous accidents. Road crews are out sanding/salting but naturally can't be everywhere at once.

It's becoming a real clusterfuck out there.  Glad I don't have to go anywhere. It is supposed to go above freezing later today.

Edit....call just came across....even the salt trucks are getting into accidents. 

I remember driving along back roads during one of these freezing rain storms.  I felt things were getting too slippery to drive any further, and stopped the car.  At the place I stopped, the road was so slippery that the crown in the road was enough to make the car slowly slide sideways even while standing still!   

I'm confident enough in my driving ability and my ability to modify how I drive according to the road conditions that I'm prepared to go out driving in almost any weather, with the following provisos:

• It not so windy that you're likely to get picked up and flung about.
• The number of other drivers on the road is small enough that my chances of encountering someone who can't adapt to the weather are acceptably small.
• The weather is not freezing rain. If it is I either don't go out, or park up until it is safe. Horrible stuff, truly, truly, horrible.

Agree 100%. And driving in snow takes an extra acuteness acquired from years of experience. Your hands on the steering and the feel coming up from the seat into your arse can give you fair warning that you are approaching the limits of control. And some features on new vehicles can be a hinder that rather than help.

AWD or 4WD is a definite plus.
If you have an automatic disable OD.
Snow or good all season tires.
ABS is 50/50 like/dislike.
I turn OFF traction control. I experimented with it and I do NOT like how it reduces power. Sometimes you WANT wheel spin.     

I've found electric/hybrid with AWD to be very good in the slippery stuff, because you can apply torque to the wheels very precisely at stand-still speeds.  The precise response to the throttle at dead slow speed is a hidden benefit of involving electric motors in the mix.
 

[mansaxel]

As I mentioned a few posts back, I've got a SG505 too. And, as was pretty common, back in the day, it sits in a 3-slot frame with an AA501A. My hunch is that the SG505 is basically running OK. But the AA501A is not well. I've concluded that it does not autorange or switch gains correctly. One gain setting is working OK. The others not. I've read that this is apparently a known issue. People have reported this  on other discussion fora.

I've fettled it and the SG505 to measure the combination of them, as good as goes, and in that one position, it actually works; attached are front panel pic and a scope pic from the monitor output, that is taken after the gain stage. All other gain positions are in a bad way; if I select them  the waveform in the monitor output becomes wobbly in level, as if it was modulated with perhaps 1-2 Hz.  In this particular (working) position, I OTOH can operate the autorange for % distortion; it works correctly. Also, the AC volt meter works correctly in that position, both for dBm and VAC RMS. (the intermediate 600Ω terminator that can be seen on the input to the AA501A did make some difference there. :-D)

Guess I'm opening the AA501A and cleaning the input selector wafers first. The signal however is run through reed relays, so that is not going to be a simple mechanical fix only.  One theory I've read about is that the reed relays stick and need exercise.  People have built training setups with a GPIB signal generator and a computer and driven the input of the AA501A with a sequence of levels to make the autoranger work.

[Specmaster]

Wake up this morning to a temperature of -2 C and freezing rain. That's rain that falls as liquid and then immediately freezes upon hitting the ground. Turns everything including the roads into a sheet of ice. The scanner is going nuts with numerous accidents. Road crews are out sanding/salting but naturally can't be everywhere at once.

It's becoming a real clusterfuck out there.  Glad I don't have to go anywhere. It is supposed to go above freezing later today.

Edit....call just came across....even the salt trucks are getting into accidents. 

I remember driving along back roads during one of these freezing rain storms.  I felt things were getting too slippery to drive any further, and stopped the car.  At the place I stopped, the road was so slippery that the crown in the road was enough to make the car slowly slide sideways even while standing still!   

I'm confident enough in my driving ability and my ability to modify how I drive according to the road conditions that I'm prepared to go out driving in almost any weather, with the following provisos:

• It not so windy that you're likely to get picked up and flung about.
• The number of other drivers on the road is small enough that my chances of encountering someone who can't adapt to the weather are acceptably small.
• The weather is not freezing rain. If it is I either don't go out, or park up until it is safe. Horrible stuff, truly, truly, horrible.

Agree 100%. And driving in snow takes an extra acuteness acquired from years of experience. Your hands on the steering and the feel coming up from the seat into your arse can give you fair warning that you are approaching the limits of control. And some features on new vehicles can be a hinder that rather than help.

AWD or 4WD is a definite plus.
If you have an automatic disable OD.
Snow or good all season tires.
ABS is 50/50 like/dislike.
I turn OFF traction control. I experimented with it and I do NOT like how it reduces power. Sometimes you WANT wheel spin.     

Over the years I've driven loads of cars, buses, coaches, lorries and vans in all kinds of weathers and I can't think of a single time that wheel spin has been of assistance no matter. You are trying to get moving, and in most vehicles when you get wheel spin it will be because there is zero grip. Without traction control being ON, all the drive will be sent to the spinning wheel, therefore no movement. The wheel is just polishing further the surface that is giving no grip.

[med6753]

Likewise with the Type 1A4. All four channels successfully compensated.



So here's the results of that 5 plug-in, two Type 547 haul back in November. A late S/N Type 1A1 with FET inputs, A Type W, an older Type CA with UHF connectors, and finally a 4 channel Type 1A4. One Type 1A1 didn't make the cut. Too many missing parts plus it has a -150V short to ground. That plug-in has already given up parts like to make up a plug-in extender.

The HV caps for the two Type 547's still haven't shipped from China. So in the meantime going to build up a storage cabinet for all these plug-in's.

 

[med6753]

Over the years I've driven loads of cars, buses, coaches, lorries and vans in all kinds of weathers and I can't think of a single time that wheel spin has been of assistance no matter. You are trying to get moving, and in most vehicles when you get wheel spin it will be because there is zero grip. Without traction control being ON, all the drive will be sent to the spinning wheel, therefore no movement. The wheel is just polishing further the surface that is giving no grip.

Agree that wheel spin while stationary buys you nothing other than digging in deeper. Controlled wheel spin while moving can sometimes be a distinct advantage until the tires finally grip. Key word is "controlled". If you just mash the gas you might as well walk.

[Vince]

Are you sure about "TNC"-connector type ?

No.

What I am sure about is that the bit I looked at is stamed RAdiall with P/N 20260.

Looked that up on Google, as you do. First hit was an ebay ad whose title said it was TNC, so I stopped there ! 

https://www.ebay.fr/itm/322854805945

For me it looks like as miniQuick connectors. "miniQuick" or "MQ" are Radiall propriety connectors.

Ah yeah searching for pics of MQ stuff indeed yields results that match what I have here, thanks !
So MiniQuick it is then, and it's proprietary Radiall stuff at that, OK thanks for the info   

Will scroll back and edit / correct my post then...

[Specmaster]

Over the years I've driven loads of cars, buses, coaches, lorries and vans in all kinds of weathers and I can't think of a single time that wheel spin has been of assistance no matter. You are trying to get moving, and in most vehicles when you get wheel spin it will be because there is zero grip. Without traction control being ON, all the drive will be sent to the spinning wheel, therefore no movement. The wheel is just polishing further the surface that is giving no grip.

Agree that wheel spin while stationary buys you nothing other than digging in deeper. Controlled wheel spin while moving can sometimes be a distinct advantage until the tires finally grip. Key word is "controlled". If you just mash the gas you might as well walk.

I have driven tens of thousands of miles a year professionally for over 40 years, in all conditions and have never once been in a situation where I have lost control of the vehicle, developed wheel spin on snow or ice. In my early career as an apprentice working for the National Bus Company, I was sent out a few times to deliver a replacement service bus to various locations, where the regular service driver had managed to become stuck in snow or ice, to allow passengers to get to their destinations in the new bus. I would then have to recover the "stuck" bus and drive it back to the garage in town. I always managed it safely. The trick is to have a very light foot and very gentle inputs into everything, steering etc, pulling away in second gear rather than first as this reduces the torque being applied to the driving wheels. Keep the engine revs low at all times and keep in the highest gear possible. That technique has stood me in great stead ever since, especially while I was doing a stint of lorry driving all over the UK, including driving across the Pennines on the notorious A66 (long before it was dualled), in a Ford D series 7ton box truck, from Penrith to Scotch Corner in the middle of a massive blizzard and managed it none stop while others had become stuck. 

[Specmaster]

Anybody looking for Nixie watches or Oscilloscope clocks at all? Then take a look at this.

[SilverSolder]

Over the years I've driven loads of cars, buses, coaches, lorries and vans in all kinds of weathers and I can't think of a single time that wheel spin has been of assistance no matter. You are trying to get moving, and in most vehicles when you get wheel spin it will be because there is zero grip. Without traction control being ON, all the drive will be sent to the spinning wheel, therefore no movement. The wheel is just polishing further the surface that is giving no grip.

Agree that wheel spin while stationary buys you nothing other than digging in deeper. Controlled wheel spin while moving can sometimes be a distinct advantage until the tires finally grip. Key word is "controlled". If you just mash the gas you might as well walk.

I have driven tens of thousands of miles a year professionally for over 40 years, in all conditions and have never once been in a situation where I have lost control of the vehicle, developed wheel spin on snow or ice. In my early career as an apprentice working for the National Bus Company, I was sent out a few times to deliver a replacement service bus to various locations, where the regular service driver had managed to become stuck in snow or ice, to allow passengers to get to their destinations in the new bus. I would then have to recover the "stuck" bus and drive it back to the garage in town. I always managed it safely. The trick is to have a very light foot and very gentle inputs into everything, steering etc, pulling away in second gear rather than first as this reduces the torque being applied to the driving wheels. Keep the engine revs low at all times and keep in the highest gear possible. That technique has stood me in great stead ever since, especially while I was doing a stint of lorry driving all over the UK, including driving across the Pennines on the notorious A66 (long before it was dualled), in a Ford D series 7ton box truck, from Penrith to Scotch Corner in the middle of a massive blizzard and managed it none stop while others had become stuck.

What you are describing is exactly what a hybrid drivetrain is good at:  finely modulated torque, you can really  the force until just before the wheels begin to spin...   - 

It is a logical deduction from physics: static friction is generally higher than dynamic friction - you don't want the wheels to spin and end up in the dynamic area.

I keep an elastic tow rope in my car, which I use to help people out of trouble in the snow.  The funniest one was pulling a beefy 4WD Jeep out of a snow drift that the overconfident young driver had intentionally tried to plow through.  I got him out, then proceeded to drive though the same drift as I left, just to prove that older men can be just as silly as young'uns, if they try a little! 

[Cerebus]

It is a logical deduction from physics: static friction is generally higher than dynamic friction - you don't want the wheels to spin and end up in the dynamic area.

It may well be a logical deduction on the surface, and at first glance it looks reasonable, unassailable even. However, it's obvious to me that a rally driver can get a car around a loose surfaced rally track, using all those very messy looking rally driving techniques that so very clearly involve dynamic friction, much faster than someone could get around the same track using tarmac driving techniques, and tarmac driving techniques adhere (no pun intended) to your tenet of avoiding dynamic* friction at all costs.

So basically there is more to it than a simple first order analysis will discover. What that is exactly, I don't know, but the methods adopted by rally drivers would strongly suggest that the art of maintaining control (with the greatest overall speed) on loose surfaces come down to more than simply maximising 'grip'.


Full disclosure: I have some little tarmac racing experience, a long time ago and was an RAC/ACU racing license holder (That is not as impressive as it sounds, it basically means you are permitted to race. They give it to you so that they can take it away again if you're a bad boy.). On the other hand I haven't a clue how rally drivers do what they do, despite having been navigator for a mate on some rallying** (it basically involves knowing where you are and reading pace notes off to the driver, you don't need to have a clue what's going on beyond that). All my driving and racing experience has been of the type that drums into you keeping the forces on your tyres within the envelope of their [rolling] static friction. I suspect that even if someone now showed me how to drive like a rally driver I wouldn't be able to make myself do it, backing off the second I hit the edge of that envelope.

*I'm sticking with SilverSolder's terminology even though it isn't quite kosher, and because without looking it up I can't remember the kosher terms. Tyres are rolling, so 'static friction' isn't quite the right phrase, neither is 'dynamic friction', but I think we all know what he means. I do remember that tyre dynamics is not a simple subject, and that tyres only 'roll' in a straight line and that dynamic forces involve 'deformation', 'slip' (which doesn't mean slipping) and lots of other terms that I have forgotten.

Edit:
**Just to drive home how unimpressive holding an RAC/ACU licence was, I seem to remember that I got roped in precisely because I did have a licence and navigators were required to have one for the class(es) he competed in. My license was obtained to lose 2 stroke motorbike races on tarmac, but it wasn't a licence for that in particular, it was just a license to participate in racing. So if anyone ever tries to impress you with having held an "RAC/ACU racing license", you have grounds to be very sceptical that it implies any particular proficiency.

[SilverSolder]

It is a logical deduction from physics: static friction is generally higher than dynamic friction - you don't want the wheels to spin and end up in the dynamic area.

It may well be a logical deduction on the surface, and at first glance it looks reasonable, unassailable even. However, it's obvious to me that a rally driver can get a car around a loose surfaced rally track, using all those very messy looking rally driving techniques that so very clearly involve dynamic friction, much faster than someone could get around the same track using tarmac driving techniques, and tarmac driving techniques adhere (no pun intended) to your tenet of avoiding dynamic* friction at all costs. [...]

What the rally driver is doing is using the road before a turn to set up rotational momentum (around the car's center point, seen from above) before he even gets to the turn, allowing him to make use of dynamic friction over a much longer distance than the static friction (which only acts in the actual turn itself).   Dynamic friction over longer distance can do more work on the car than slightly higher static friction for a shorter distance, essentially.   You would never do this in Formula 1, because here the road grip is high enough that you lose more than you gain by drifting.  There's got to be some coefficient of friction where it makes sense to switch from one driving style to the other! 

It is also a fact that switching ABS off on gravel can let you stop faster than leaving it engaged, because gravel builds up in front of the stationary wheels and gets a better grip than the "static friction" situation.  For most drivers, this is a completely theoretical scenario and they are better off leaving ABS on, and driving a little slower...   (do most cars even allow you to turn off ABS these days?)

None of this has anything to do with spinning wheels in the snow, though.   Here, there are very limited scenarios where spinning the wheels like crazy work as well as the non-spin approach.   One scenario where it can be required is if the driver has already dug the car into a hole by spinning the tires.  Here, it may be necessary to do some trench digging a few inches in each direction before you can switch to the 'no spin' approach and actually get the car moving....

[mnementh]

Over the years I've driven loads of cars, buses, coaches, lorries and vans in all kinds of weathers and I can't think of a single time that wheel spin has been of assistance no matter. You are trying to get moving, and in most vehicles when you get wheel spin it will be because there is zero grip. Without traction control being ON, all the drive will be sent to the spinning wheel, therefore no movement. The wheel is just polishing further the surface that is giving no grip.

Agree that wheel spin while stationary buys you nothing other than digging in deeper. Controlled wheel spin while moving can sometimes be a distinct advantage until the tires finally grip. Key word is "controlled". If you just mash the gas you might as well walk.

I have driven tens of thousands of miles a year professionally for over 40 years, in all conditions and have never once been in a situation where I have lost control of the vehicle, developed wheel spin on snow or ice. In my early career as an apprentice working for the National Bus Company, I was sent out a few times to deliver a replacement service bus to various locations, where the regular service driver had managed to become stuck in snow or ice, to allow passengers to get to their destinations in the new bus. I would then have to recover the "stuck" bus and drive it back to the garage in town. I always managed it safely. The trick is to have a very light foot and very gentle inputs into everything, steering etc, pulling away in second gear rather than first as this reduces the torque being applied to the driving wheels. Keep the engine revs low at all times and keep in the highest gear possible. That technique has stood me in great stead ever since, especially while I was doing a stint of lorry driving all over the UK, including driving across the Pennines on the notorious A66 (long before it was dualled), in a Ford D series 7ton box truck, from Penrith to Scotch Corner in the middle of a massive blizzard and managed it none stop while others had become stuck.

Sounds to my like you're trying to make a virtue of never having learned to steer with the right foot.

Seriously... there's a biiiiig difference between driving a large heavy vehicle on paved streets vs driving small passenger vehicles on slick, muddy or slushy terrain. There are times when the best tactic is not to try and plow through, but rather to float across the obstacle.

If you don't learn how to utilize drive wheel spin, you won't last 30 seconds on any dirt oval track, or in most off-road scenarios, be it racing or just donking around in the back 40.

As for traction control... I had just such a problem with the Rav4 first winter we had it; our house had a steep drive, and neighbors would often park directly across the street such that we had to come up at a angle. Problem was, the inboard front wheel would start up the hill, and just as the outboard wheel would start to come up the lip of the apron, it would start to slip on the ice/snow/slush because of the front of the car lifting due to the inboard wheel already being a foot or two up the hill. Now the fekking traction control kills the throttle, making the car roll/slide down the damn drive into the street without my consent; the first time there was a vehicle following close behind me and I almost hit them. 

Several times I tried, and as slow as I could go or as fast as I could hit it without risking sliding past the drive, it didn't matter; the traction control would kill throttle at the worst possible moment.

Stopped fighting it, took out the manual to figure out how to turn the stoopit thing off, and whoop! zipped right up the drive with literally a barely noticeable fraction of a second of spinning at the lip of the apron.

Several times over the next 2 winters I had opportunity (read: I forgot to turn the fucking thing off) to test this theory; every time, turning traction control off returned normal control of the vehicle to me, the driver.

Which is where it belongs.

Cheers,

mnem
 

[mnementh]

      

On The Bench Tonight: Thrift Goodies

I went to the Thrift looking for a few odds & ends we still need for the house; I was far from home so figured I'd scope this one out as unlikely I'd pass there again soon. Picked up a second APC UPS as needed for my fiber ONT in the basement and my router/mesh WiFi upstairs. Of course, battery looks original and the UPS screams whether it's installed or not... but this is good; means probably it'll work fine once it has a decent battery in it.

One of the things on my mental shopping list was a 5V wall wart in the 2-3A range for my old Roku so I can hook it up to one of our old TVs; got lucky and found a original one. Also found some flat ethernet cables to keep in my laptop bag; they have a habit of getting "deployed" in random locations (often no longer in my possession) due to "can't be arsed to hunt down a regular one right now". The black one underneath is humdrum ordinary CAT5E rated; however, the one on top has the shielded RJ45s, and printing on the cable claims it is BUSHOE CAT7 SSTP FLAT CABLE.  I look forward to finding my cable tester so I can test the HOE-ness of its BUS. 

Finally, the Kraken X53 AiO cooler: Got it running with a SATA power brick; it has a nice aggressive pump which I could hear very loudly until it purged all the air, then whisper-quiet.  But sadly, it is missing some of the wiring and most of the hardware kit. But... that worked to my advantage today; I whinged at the manager figuring I'd get $5-10 off due to the cost and hassle of replacing hardware; he said, "Yeah, sure, I can go 50% off." So I got my whole pile of goodies for $28 w/tax.  Hey, you never know unless you ask.

Fortunately, I recognized that it is a Asetek-licensed pump, for which there are generic hardware kits at $10-15. All the bespoke wiring is there, so I'll just have to make up some standard fan Y-harness and JST-PH for the lighting, if I bother. While I kindof like the infinity lighting effect and I'd probably want to change the color to match other lighting in the PC, I may very well not even care about the fans when/if they go in. If I remove all the lighting control wiring, I can make the pump area much tidier.

Cheers,

mnem
*toddles off to ded*

[vk6zgo]

Wake up this morning to a temperature of -2 C and freezing rain. That's rain that falls as liquid and then immediately freezes upon hitting the ground. Turns everything including the roads into a sheet of ice. The scanner is going nuts with numerous accidents. Road crews are out sanding/salting but naturally can't be everywhere at once.

It's becoming a real clusterfuck out there.  Glad I don't have to go anywhere. It is supposed to go above freezing later today.

Edit....call just came across....even the salt trucks are getting into accidents. 

I remember driving along back roads during one of these freezing rain storms.  I felt things were getting too slippery to drive any further, and stopped the car.  At the place I stopped, the road was so slippery that the crown in the road was enough to make the car slowly slide sideways even while standing still!   

I'm confident enough in my driving ability and my ability to modify how I drive according to the road conditions that I'm prepared to go out driving in almost any weather, with the following provisos:

• It not so windy that you're likely to get picked up and flung about.
• The number of other drivers on the road is small enough that my chances of encountering someone who can't adapt to the weather are acceptably small.
• The weather is not freezing rain. If it is I either don't go out, or park up until it is safe. Horrible stuff, truly, truly, horrible.

Agree 100%. And driving in snow takes an extra acuteness acquired from years of experience. Your hands on the steering and the feel coming up from the seat into your arse can give you fair warning that you are approaching the limits of control. And some features on new vehicles can be a hinder that rather than help.

AWD or 4WD is a definite plus.
If you have an automatic disable OD.
Snow or good all season tires.
ABS is 50/50 like/dislike.
I turn OFF traction control. I experimented with it and I do NOT like how it reduces power. Sometimes you WANT wheel spin.     

I've had very little experience with snow driving.

Once in Victoria in Oz when I towed a caravan (house trailer) up a mountain to the "chain fitting station" before I could turn around.
That was in Summer 1968, which was a very strange year for weather----------a foreshadowing of climate change?

One day in Southampton UK, 1971--------the only snowy day Soton could conjure up.

A few days in Ireland in '74 driving a hired Mini---snow wasn't a problem, but where I nearly "came to grief" was when I crested a hill, one sunny, but seriously cold morning, only to see a Shell fuel tanker at the bottom of the hill, with its driven wheels spinning.
Automatically, I braked ---not a good idea!

The Mini spun multiple times, ending up in the mushy crud at the side of the road, with luckily, no damage.
That was my introduction to "black ice".
It does occur from time to time in the south of West Oz, but I had previously been fortunate enough to have avoided it.

My daughter's Hyundai had traction control, which seemed OK most of the time, but didn't like unsealed roads in the North West.
It was always a fraction slow, correcting the last thing, not the current one, so "off it went".

[Specmaster]

Over the years I've driven loads of cars, buses, coaches, lorries and vans in all kinds of weathers and I can't think of a single time that wheel spin has been of assistance no matter. You are trying to get moving, and in most vehicles when you get wheel spin it will be because there is zero grip. Without traction control being ON, all the drive will be sent to the spinning wheel, therefore no movement. The wheel is just polishing further the surface that is giving no grip.

Agree that wheel spin while stationary buys you nothing other than digging in deeper. Controlled wheel spin while moving can sometimes be a distinct advantage until the tires finally grip. Key word is "controlled". If you just mash the gas you might as well walk.

I have driven tens of thousands of miles a year professionally for over 40 years, in all conditions and have never once been in a situation where I have lost control of the vehicle, developed wheel spin on snow or ice. In my early career as an apprentice working for the National Bus Company, I was sent out a few times to deliver a replacement service bus to various locations, where the regular service driver had managed to become stuck in snow or ice, to allow passengers to get to their destinations in the new bus. I would then have to recover the "stuck" bus and drive it back to the garage in town. I always managed it safely. The trick is to have a very light foot and very gentle inputs into everything, steering etc, pulling away in second gear rather than first as this reduces the torque being applied to the driving wheels. Keep the engine revs low at all times and keep in the highest gear possible. That technique has stood me in great stead ever since, especially while I was doing a stint of lorry driving all over the UK, including driving across the Pennines on the notorious A66 (long before it was dualled), in a Ford D series 7ton box truck, from Penrith to Scotch Corner in the middle of a massive blizzard and managed it none stop while others had become stuck.

Sounds to my like you're trying to make a virtue of never having learned to steer with the right foot.

Seriously... there's a biiiiig difference between driving a large heavy vehicle on paved streets vs driving small passenger vehicles on slick, muddy or slushy terrain. There are times when the best tactic is not to try and plow through, but rather to float across the obstacle.

If you don't learn how to utilize drive wheel spin, you won't last 30 seconds on any dirt oval track, or in most off-road scenarios, be it racing or just donking around in the back 40.

As for traction control... I had just such a problem with the Rav4 first winter we had it; our house had a steep drive, and neighbors would often park directly across the street such that we had to come up at a angle. Problem was, the inboard front wheel would start up the hill, and just as the outboard wheel would start to come up the lip of the apron, it would start to slip on the ice/snow/slush because of the front of the car lifting due to the inboard wheel already being a foot or two up the hill. Now the fekking traction control kills the throttle, making the car roll/slide down the damn drive into the street without my consent; the first time there was a vehicle following close behind me and I almost hit them. 

Several times I tried, and as slow as I could go or as fast as I could hit it without risking sliding past the drive, it didn't matter; the traction control would kill throttle at the worst possible moment.

Stopped fighting it, took out the manual to figure out how to turn the stoopit thing off, and whoop! zipped right up the drive with literally a barely noticeable fraction of a second of spinning at the lip of the apron.

Several times over the next 2 winters I had opportunity (read: I forgot to turn the fucking thing off) to test this theory; every time, turning traction control off returned normal control of the vehicle to me, the driver.

Which is where it belongs.

Cheers,

mnem
 

Yep, totally agree, traction control can on the odd occasion work against you. But seriously, for the best of that 40 years of driving professionally, such gadgets as ABS, Traction etc were not available, even on the range topping cars and buses and lorries, good grief no.

The buses were powered by a Gardener 6 cylinder, long stroke diesel engine of 10.45 litres producing 150HP @ 1700RPM. Not as powerful as many would think, and they tick over @ approx 500 to 600RPM, but the torques available was massive, simply releasing the clutch at idle there was more than enough torque to pull away cleanly. It was a similar story with the Ford D series truck, although its idling speed was much higher. I think diesel engines are preferable in winter conditions because of their increased weight and grip as a result of the weight, but also because of their low down pure grunt.

[TERRA Operative]

So, to calibrate and adjust the SG505 Oscillator, I need to restore and adjust and calibrate an AM502 differential amplifier, and to do that I need to build an RC normalizer.

I built one before so it's no big deal to build another, but can someone tell me where the rabbithole ends???     

I also have a SG505, albeit with Options 1 & 2. (IMD output and Balanced output). At a minimum I need to build myself a 600Ω termination; unterminated  output is way high. This also was very obvious as I used my telephone transmission tester; which suffers from the same problem.

Mine is the same one with the options, but I'm getting strange output level unless I'm reading the adjustment section of the manual wrong... I don't have the manual on me now, but IIRC it was low output with the two 300ohm resistors connected, but within spec with them disconnected. The manual reads a bit weird though, it takes me reading each step a few times to work out exactly what they are trying to explain to do.
Everything else seems fine so far though.

I bought the parts to make the RC normalizer for the AM502 today, so I'll have another go at it soon.